Socialisation agents can exist in many forms, but one of the most significant is a person’s family. I grew up in Haiti and have since moved to Florida and created a family of my own. Those early childhood years undoubtedly socialised me and contributed hugely to the person I am today.
According to Bata Nafisa Baxamusa’s (2010) article, Agents of Socialisation: “The most important primary agent of socialization, family, plays an important role in shaping the life and behaviour of an individual within the society (Baxamusa, 2010).
At a young age, a person’s family helps them to establish culture and cultivate their own social identity. These early family experiences have a lasting influence on the individual; through them the person may affirm their own sense of self, and their basic values as well as motivations. The family has a major impact on a person’s lifelong attitudes and behaviour.
I grew up in Haiti with my sister, my mother and my father. My upbringing taught me a lot about the traditional male and female roles within the household. My father had a farm which generated enough of an income to send my sister and I to school. He worked very hard to support his family, and I was always aware of this. My mother stayed at home to care for us and our house. In Haiti our family was considered quite traditional. Having said this, my father had many more children by different mothers. Out of thirteen children, I only have one sister with the same mother as me. I was raised to appreciate what I had. My family was not a rich one but, due to my father’s strong work ethic, I was provided for in terms of food and education. I was taught about family values.
This importance on family is something I have kept with me throughout my life. I am now thirty-two years old and married with four children of my own. All of my family have moved away from Haiti in order to have a better quality of life. I now live in Florida, as does my sister, and my mother lives in New York. My father passed away last year at the old age of 102. Regarding my own husband and children, home life is of the upmost importance to me. I want all four of my children to be educated and to attend university, if they choose to do so. Just as my father worked hard for his children, I have the same inbuilt desire to provide for them.
I like to travel a great deal, which I believe is a consequence of having moved from one culture into a vastly different one. I thrive on meeting people from cultures that vary from my own, and, although I would never move back, I still think of Haiti as home. Also, when I was child, my parents could not afford to take us away on holidays abroad. I don’t resent them for this, as money was short, but I want my children to grow up differently, knowing more about the world than I did when I was young.
From my early days in Haiti to my current life in the US, I can clearly see how my early family life has socialised me into the person I am now. From my strong family values to my love of travelling, most elements of my character have stemmed from my childhood.
References
Baxamusa, B.N. (2010) Agents of Socialisation. Buzzle. Retrieved from
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/agents-of-socialization.html
